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Tag - Travel

You can't predict whether you're going to be sitting next to children on a flight or, as has happened to us, a group of local radio DJs who would not shut up. For everything else, though, there are seat maps you can study, and there are crowd-sourced details-- and that's why there's SeatGuru 3.1.

Hand on heart, I wanted a new iPad, but I didn't lust after the iPad Pro the way I may possibly have been drawn to previous Apple products. I tried it in Apple Stores in the UK and France, wherever I passed one, and there's no question but that 3D tour of Paris in Apple Maps is beautiful on the iPad Pro. Even there, I hesitated though; and instead, bought an Apple Smart Cover for my original iPad Air before moving on. The iPad Pro is just a bigger iPad, and everyone who argues that it is or isn't a replacement for their Macs is just daft. Or so I thought, until I had an iPad Pro, and I went travelling.

At CES in Las Vegas on Monday, two firms have revealed new chargers and bands for the Apple Watch and iPhone 6s. Accessory maker Zens has brought out a charging dock called the Zens Apple Watch Charging Bank that offers up to four full recharges of the device, and includes its own compatible inductive charger, so users can leave the Apple-supplied charging cord at home. Griffin, another accessories manufacturer, is offering its own "travel charger" for the Watch, as well as a selection of bands.

When we reviewed Citymapper back in March, we concluded that it was very impressive, and that it could only get more so as it added further cities to its list of supported regions. It's done that, but the developers have also released no fewer than 15 update releases, adding new cities and new features to reach Citymapper 5.12, and a total of 29 cities.

Every family has one member who's always on the road, either for business or personal travel. Whether it's your college-age kid backpacking around Europe, or your on-the-go brother who jet-sets to meetings around the globe. For the MacNN family, that guy is -- me. There's always a certain amount of tech we just have to bring along -- the trick is getting it all in there, yet keeping it light enough to not be a burden. In this Gift Guide, we'll take a look at some of my road-tested travel gear.

It may seem peculiar to have a favorite electrical plug -- it's the Mu -- but if you don't happen to travel to the UK much then you may not know. The domestic mains electrical system in Britain is practically industrial. Where a typical US mains socket provides 110V, the regular UK one pumps out 230-240V. It's why our kettles boil so very much faster, and it's why you can die if you hold wires that you stick into a British socket, despite the relatively safer 50Hz frequency. So, you know, there are pluses and minuses.

This is a case of the Internet solving a problem that the Internet caused. Back in the day, if you wanted to go somewhere, you consulted a travel agent, and he or she presented you with a neat little agenda, a smart little itinerary, and a not very little bill. Now that we book our own planes, trains, cars and hotels, maybe we can see why they earned their money. Or maybe we can just see how useful an app and service like TripIt is.

JetBlue is aiming to become the first airline in the United States to offer free Wi-Fi services to its customers across its entire fleet, it has revealed. The airline has completed installation of Fly-Fi on its collection of 150 Airbus A320 and A321 planes, which uses Ka-band satellites to provide Internet connections of up to 20mbps per device onboard. The first of 60 E190s planes with Fly-Fi onboard made its inaugural flight this week, with JetBlue anticipating it will bring Fly-Fi to all of its passenger aircraft by fall next year.

Don't get us wrong: we like using apps to book flights, but we also like pretending we're going to exciting places. When we're actually going, well, we do still use apps, and we even recommend ones like Kayak, but sometimes we need to dig further. For "further" read "cheaper," and for "digging" read "spending more time in the hidden corners of the Internet."

From the makers of a Contacts app that won't let you add contacts -- step forward, Outlook for iOS -- and the developers of the variable word count -- hello, Word -- comes Microsoft Translator 1.0 for iOS, and it is excellent. Or at least excellent enough to get by our high school French knowledge, and excellent enough to look brilliant rendering beautiful Russian and Chinese.

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Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj

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Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket

The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]

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Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera

Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94

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Apple employees testing wheelchair features

New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa

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SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards

SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If

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Apple's third-quarter results due July 26

Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm

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Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users

Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE